Roger Federer of Switzerland wipes sweat away
Roger Federer of Switzerland wipes sweat away from his face in the third set against Gael Monfils of France during their quarter-final men's singles match at the 2014 U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York, September 4, 2014. Reuters

The top two seeds in the 2014 US Open are still alive and kicking and on Saturday (early Sunday in Australia), Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will face separate opponents in Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic, respectively with the winners advancing to the championship round of the final Grand Slam of the year held in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Can the favourites hold off the challenge of the underdogs? Djokovic of Serbia and Federer of Switzerland are looking to continue their US Open run and add more to their Grand Slam trophies collection while Nishikori of Japan and Cilic of Croatia are aiming for a first-ever appearances the final of a tennis major.

Cilic reached the semifinals in the 2010 Australian Open while Nishikori landed in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Australia Open as their respective career-highs in a Grand Slam tournament. An upset over Federer or Djokovic will mean a historical feat for either player.

Djokovic is aiming for his 8th Grand Slam title and just the second in New York while Federer is looking to up the all-time record to 18 Grand Slam titles and sixth at Flushing Meadows after consecutive crowns from 2004 to 2008.

Djokovic credited Nishikori’s speed and health for this successful run at the US Open.

“He started working with Michael Chang and he changed a few things in his game. He serves very efficiently. Obviously he's very, very fast, maybe one of the fastest on the tour player. Great backhand, great forehand, all-around player,” Djokovic said via the tournament’s official website.

Djokovic also was appreciative of the fact that the Japanese scored consecutive five-set classic against top players Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic.

“He won today against Stan, who is playing some great tennis. To be able to come back after winning against Raonic 2:30 a.m., again five sets, five sets, it's pretty impressive,” Djokovic said of Nishikori who beat Wawrinka, 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (5), 6-4 in the quarterfinals and Raonic, 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-7 (6), 7-5, 6-4 in the Round of 16.

Djokovic and Nishikori were scheduled to meet in the semifinals of the ATP Tour Masters Miami earlier in 2014 but the latter had to pull out due to an injury. Djokovic defeated Nishikori, 6-1, 6-4, 6-4 in their first and only Grand Slam meeting at the 2010 French Open. Overall, the head-to-head series between the two is at one win apiece.

Meanwhile, Roger Federer is coming off a stirring comeback win over Gael Monfils in the quarterfinals. Federer was down, two sets to none and even trailed 4-5 in the fourth set but held off multiple match points to win the five-setter, 4-6, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-2.

“I know that Cilic is going to stay on the baseline and dictate play as much as he can. Otherwise he's actually quite similar to Gael: he's tall, got a big serve, can return well, got a big reach. From that standpoint, I guess it was actually good playing Gael tonight ahead of the match against Cilic,” Federer said in the post-match interview.

Catch the 2014 US Open live streaming of the semifinals between Roger Federer vs. Marin Cilic and Novak Djokovic vs. Kei Nishikori via these links: official website – 2014 US Open, Eurosport or the Tennis Channel.